Beautiful Birds
by jibrailis
Summary: Hinata watches Neji leave with the other shinobis to fetch Sasuke from the darkness. A simple musing about her and Neji's past within the Hyuuga clan.


**Beautiful Birds **

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form. Which- and I know many people will agree with me- is rather unfortunate.

**A/N:** Mmm, not much to say about this one. It's a short fic that takes place on the morning when the 'super team' goes to rescue Sasuke. Some of the small details might be off, such as dialogue and the order in which things happen, but I don't have the manga at hand to look over. Forgive me. [smiles

Konoha was beautiful in the early sunlight, the tendrils of warmth touching the rooftops of the hidden village. Whenever Hinata looked at it, she felt as if she had stepped into a faerie tale world, and for a moment, she was not the weak, blushing girl that could never achieve her family's high standards no matter how hard she tried. Instead she was simply just another random person, waking up to the sight that was not the Hyuuga's alone, but the entire village's.

Yet this morning was different. Hinata could taste it in her mouth, the indistinguishable rise of fear and danger. She had always been rather intuitive, and right now her mind rang with thousands of possibilities. The sunlight didn't look right. The Hokage monument was stilted. The birdsong outside her window echoed with melodies and death, and not of freedom.

And then, she saw Shikamaru walking down the streets. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, and when she looked closer with her Byakugan, she saw his characteristic bored expression. But with her gifts, Hinata was able to pick out the smaller nuances of his face, and she found fear underneath it, mixed with apprehension and determination.

Something was wrong.

She watched Shikamaru meet up with Naruto and Chouji, the latter with his third breakfast in hand. Hinata's heart thumped a bit at the sight of the blond-haired genin, but she focused her vision on the situation. Shikamaru said something to the other two males, and both of them seemed shocked at first, but then resolute.

What was going on? Hinata's sixth sense was ringing. Quickly, she turned from the window and changed out of her nightgown. Then she threw her jacket over her shoulders and dashed out of the house. Her father, Hiashi, looked a little surprised as his normally timid daughter rushed by, but he shrugged and returned to his conversation with Hanabi, who was eating her cereal.

Hinata was not sure what prompted her sudden frenzy. It was terribly out of character for her to be like this, desperate and rash. But as she ran out of her house, she saw Shikamaru, Naruto and Chouji meet up with Kiba and Akamaru. She skidded to a stop and watched from behind a tree as the four males talked further, and Akamaru barked.

"…Sasuke left to join the four sound-nins," Shikamaru was saying. "The Hokage told me to assemble a team and bring him back."

"But why us?" Chouji wanted to know. "We're genins. Well, except for you, of course."

"All the jounins and other chuunins are out on missions," Shikamaru replied. "We're the only capable people left to rescue Sasuke and besides-" He slid Naruto a careful glance. "We might be the only ones who can actually bring him back. He left of his own free will, after all. We're going to have to do more than just drag him back."

"Oh I get it," Naruto said, as cheerful as ever. "We have to convince him, right?"

"Yes."

Hinata gasped from behind the tree. Sasuke had abandoned their village? She had always known that he was a darker person than most- which was one of the reasons why she had not fallen madly in love with him as the other girls had. But even so, she had never thought he would _leave_. And with the sound-nins, no less. Weren't they Konoha's enemies after the attack during the chuunin exam?

A familiar voice interrupted her thoughts, and when she turned her attention back to the team, she saw her cousin with the group. At what point had he appeared, Hinata was not sure, but she took in the sight of him now: the long black hair, the white eyes that were a mirror of her own, the forehead protector that not only symbolized his alliance, but also hid that terrible mark that for so long represented his caged destiny.

Neji was going too. On this dangerous mission to hunt down four experienced jounins, and a boy who desired revenge so deeply that he would sell his own soul for it. Hinata clutched her chest, feeling some of the familiar pain rise up in her ribcage, the leftover anguish from their fight in the chunnin preliminaries. She still remembered that afternoon: the blood she had coughed, the fire in her mind, but most of all, Neji's cold face watching as she picked herself up and faced him again. She remembered his expressionless eyes, which finally widened in anger when she told him the truth: that it was he who suffered the most.

Hinata knew this, because she had suffered as well. And in the midst of her despair- knowing that she would be never the perfect heir her father wanted- she had looked up to feel another person's pain. One that was stronger than hers, more rooted in grief and anger. She had looked up and seen her cousin, the one who was hailed as a prodigy even as his Branch House blood was scorned. She had seen Neji and knew, in that split second, she was not alone. He was a kindred spirit, although his darkness she could never imitate.

Because he suffered, so did she. And then the chunnin exam came, and she was facing him in the opposite end of the fighting arena. Neji had no qualms about hitting her, and she had no qualms about being hit. If anything, Hinata felt that it was her duty. Her Main House family deserved it for their cruel ways, for the sacrifice he believed they had made of his father. Within the fight, she had taken it upon herself to represent them all, because she was their successor. She had stood for them, and had taken his blows, even as courage- Naruto's courage- dictated she fight him back.

She fought him back. And when he beat her, and she was crumpled on the floor, Hinata did not feel regret. Because this was her way of saying that she was sorry, sorry for what her family did to him. Sorry that he would never be of the right blood, no matter how strong he became- and he was already very strong. Sorry that he would never feel his father's warm touch again, never smile at Hizashi without a care in the world.

Sorry that he lived every day in a life that was bound in inescapable ties.

When the final stretch of the chuunin exam came, Hinata watched as Naruto battled Neji. Watched as two of the people she cared most for in the world, attacked and defended. She saw Neji's true strength in the battle- the Kaiten, the Hakke- and she also saw Naruto's. For the first time she understood why he had never given up, and as his red chakra exploded around him, she knew that one day, he would become Hokage.

But as the fight ended, it was not just Naruto whom she cheered. It was also Neji, lying on the ground defeated, his black hair spilling against the dust. She watched him stare up at the sky, and knew that there were birds there, flying in their infinite freedom. As Naruto blew kisses to the cheering audience, Hinata paused on her fervent clapping in time to see the light return to Neji's eyes.

She knew that light. She had witnessed it more than eight years ago, that happy, joyful expression her cousin wore before his life- and hers- became twisted out of shape. And as the light flickered in his white eyes, Hinata saw the binds around him, the binds that tied him to his fate of hatred, snap. She saw him realize the meaning of destiny, that no one was bound to an inescapable fate.

And as she clapped in the stadium, she clapped for both of them. For the victor, who had finally achieved the respect he deserved, the blond-haired boy running around with so much stamina one wouldn't have thought he just fought a gruelling match. And for the loser, who had finally found the peace he deserved, the black-haired boy on the ground with the light in his eyes.

A few days later, when the attack on the stadium had cleared and life resumed to way it had always been- even without their beloved Hokage- Neji showed up to dinner for the first time in years. He had always eaten on his own, away from the large family dining room, but that evening he took his place among those whose blood he shared, and she heard the murmured whispers of surprise.

The prodigy of the Hyuuga clan had returned from the darkness.

But now, on this dreadful and beautiful morning, she watched Shikamaru explain to Neji the current situation, watched as her cousin nodded without word. This was how it should be, because they were shinobi of the Leaf, and that was their duty: to risk their lives for another's in a mission, no matter how dangerous it could be. Yet even as Hinata knew this, her heart throbbed. For all five of these brave young men, who accepted their task without sadness, without regret, knowing that this was what their life meant.

The doors opened, and the team stepped out of the village. Hidden behind a tree, Hinata watched their retreating backs, beautiful birds that were leaving their cage, leaving their previous lives to a new one that she could never comprehend. She saw Kiba and Akamaru at the lead, Shikamaru second, Naruto third, Chouji forth. And she saw Neji as the rear scout, deadly with this Byakugan- the gift he had received so much more strongly than anyone in their clan. She watched him give himself to his mission, ready to risk life and limb for his fellow comrades.

Beautiful birds, free from their cage, began to fly.

But as they walked out of the village, Neji paused. He turned around and his eyes met Hinata's, and she realized he must have known her presence all along. A blush covered her cheeks, but she said something to him, words that were so genuine she could never lie about them.

"C-come back, Brother Neji."

He nodded and returned to his task. And as he disappeared into the distance along with his four teammates, Hinata knew that she would pray for their return. Pray with everything she had, but for Neji most of all. Because despite all the twisted strings that ran in their past, despite the killing intent he had once directed towards her, despite the darkness and the pain, Hinata loved her family more than anything else.

They were all such beautiful birds.


End file.
